Western Union Offline, DBS Singapore to the Rescue

Remember when I wrote about Western Union with TEB bank in Turkey to send money to Malaysia. Well, now they do not accept Western Union transfer anymore. I am not sure what is the real reason because the Western Union sticker is still on their door.

So I tried my luck with Yapi Kredi bank just in front TEB bank. Because I saw Western Union sticker on their wall. The guy at the counter can speak English quite well, and yes they can process my Western Union to Malaysia.

Yapi Kredi Western Union

Only one problem with Yapi Kredi bank, the que is quite long especially office hours. Furthermore I don’t have account with Yapi Kredi bank, so I am not their priority. Sometime I have to wait almost one hour.

But since I have no other choice, I fill my time by playing games on my Zenfone2. This continues for a few months until Yapi Kredi Western Union have a system problem. Imagine you wait for almost an hour and when finally its you turn, the guy at the counter say “sorry Western union OFFLINE”. Yapi Kredi was my last hope to send money, so I walk up to 5 banks to ask about Western Union. All of them gave me the same answer “OFFLINE”.

Then I think to myself, is there any other option that I can use to transfer money from oversea to Malaysia. I already asked before about Bank Telegraphic Transfer from Turkey o Malaysia. The lady from TEB Bank said that it will cost USD 100. So not an option. So my best chances right now is Western Union because the fee for transfer is quite reasonable. But I have to ask everyday when the Western Union system is back online. Which is not practical and time consuming.

DBS Malaysia Remit

Until one of my Singaporean friend here in Ankara offered his help to transfer money from his DBS Bank account in Singapore to my Maybank account. Plus, the commission fee is lower than Western Union around 50 lira. Luckily, DBS is currently have a DBS Malaysia Remit promotion, no charge (S$0) fee for transfer money to Malaysian Bank till December 2015. You can receive money on same day transfer. So no more walking and waiting to the bank. I just asked my friend to transfer money online, and I will pay him in Lira.

At first we tried to transfer only RM200 to make sure the transfer is successful. I gave him all my Maybank account number, Maybank swift code and address. Well, its good to have a good friend when time like this.

Moral of the story, make a lot of friends where ever you are. Be nice to them and one day you might need their help.